Extreme Bookbinding - A fascinating Preservation Project in Ethiopia.

by Lester Capon

It began
with 8a telephone call one Thursday morning in May 2006 from James Brockman.
The conversation went something like this :- J.B. - "Do you want to work in
the Ethiopian mountains on a 6th. century manuscript?" L.C. - " Yes" When, some
months later, I was being hoisted up a sheer rock face a stones throw from the
Eritrean border, trusting my prolonged existence to an ancient leather strap
and an even more ancient monk, coupled with my laughable attempts at rock climbing
on the only day of rain in the whole trip, I had time as I dangled dangerously
to reflect, through gritted teeth as it were, on my hasty reply.

St Luke

Introduction

The two manuscript
volumes are kept at the Monastery of Abuna Garima in the Tigray Region, that
is the Ethiopian highlands, in the north of the country. There are many monasteries
and rock-hewn churches scattered around this area in varying degrees of inaccessibility
- up mountains, on lakes and miles from anywhere.

They nearly
all have 'treasures - crosses, crowns, manuscripts and books' which are shown,
though not always, to the few visitors who pass through. It is not uncommon
to trek for a day over rough mountainous terrain to reach one of these churches,
only to find that the resident monk is disinclined to show its treasures, or
that he is simply absent, or, dare I say, sleeping off a home brew tasting session.

Perhaps the
most famous one is at Lalibela. This is a group of churches situated in the
Lasta Mountains, Northern Ethiopia, which are carved out of, and freed from,
the rocks, creating a space around them. They contain striking carvings, friezes
and frescoes as well as manuscripts.

Of all the
manuscripts in Ethiopia the gospels at Garima are believed to be the oldest
and have been dated by European scholars to the sixth century. (They are believed
by the Coptic monks there to have been written and illustrated by Abba Garima,
their founder and one of the evangelising saints of Ethiopia, in one day!) There
are plenty of wild beliefs, I guess, in all cultures. Gabra Manfas Qeddus, born
in Egypt, was supposed to have lived for 562 years, neither drinking water nor
eating food.

The Charity
for the Preservation of Ethiopian Heritage in London were organising this project.
They had been advised of the options and viability of any work being carried
out. Clearly, the ideal treatment for these manuscripts would have been removal
to a conservation unit where it could be analysed, taken apart, repaired and
reassembled. This of course would be a huge undertaking - years of work - a
massive commitment from an institution or team of conservators. In practice
this will never happen - the books rarely see the light of day, and are not
even allowed beyond the perimeter of the monastery's Treasure House courtyard.
They have never left the monastery in over 1400 years, let alone the country.

I agreed with
the sponsors that a limited amount of consolidation and repair could be achieved
without compromising the volumes and that this would result in the manuscripts
being safer to handle.

Accompanying
me for some of the time would be Jacques Mercier, an expert on Ethiopian manuscripts,
icons, healing scrolls and botany, who has spent about thirty years on and off
in Ethiopia and was, thankfully, more than capable of dealing with the complicated
hierarchy and bureaucracy there and Daniel SeifeMikael, his assistant, an Ethiopian
lecturer in Theology who was kindness personified. I was lucky that Mark Winstanley,
owner of the Wyvern Bindery in London volunteered his services as assistant.
He was unfailingly helpful with all the work, very jolly company and excellent
at keeping the monks amused and occupied. (This last skill was very necessary,
as we shall see.)

Preamble

The monastery
itself is a group of small stone built huts some circular, some square with
turf roofs where the monks live. There is a church, gaily painted on the outside
in reds, greens and yellows; having small windows, its interior is dark and
atmospheric.

Part
of the monastery church

This was usually
locked shut although occasionally a monk could be heard within reading aloud
from the gospels - using not the early manuscript but one of the many other
later manuscripts they have, bound in wooden boards with heavy leather outer
covering and fabric inner lining, substantially hidden by the large turn-ins.
They usually have illustrations at the beginning of St. Giorgis, their patron
saint (our own man, the very same) slaying a dragon, and the Virgin Mary with
Jesus at the end. I believe it is quite a common practice to have the illustrations
'freshened up' every so often.

Near to the
church was the Treasure House, a charming circular blue painted building. This
also was often locked. It housed not only the manuscripts but also, in a huge
glass fronted cabinet, dozens of books, old and new, made in the same Coptic
style of binding. There were seventeenth and eighteenth century ornate crowns,
a fourteenth century ceremonial silver spoon, early silver crosses, robes and
fabrics, silver and pewter jugs and trays, faded curling photographs all crammed
together. On the floor were faded and flea infested rugs.

Hanging everywhere
were the bright multi-coloured umbrellas they use as sun protection, each section
a different fabric, and wonderful book bags of very tough leather and vellum.
Mahda, I believe they are called. I will never forget my first entry into this
dark and magical room as, watched intently by the Keeper of the Treasures, I
sat on a stone seat built out from the wall and let my eyes grow accustomed
to the dim light that gradually revealed all these wondrous objects.

Treasure
House where bible is kept

But I am ahead
of myself.... We arrived at Addis Ababa and took an internal flight over the
Simeon Mountains to Aksum. Here we discovered that half of Mark's luggage had
stayed with the plane and was on its way to Gonder. Well, it could have been
worse - it could have been my luggage. We were driven to Adwa, the nearest town
to the monastery. The scenery was stupendous - a mixture of mountains and grasslands
and Acacia and Olive trees with some cultivated areas. According to Sidney Cockerel
many of the boards used for bindings are of Olive wood.

The main crop
is Tef, a sort of wheat, with which they make their staple diet of injera. This
grew everywhere, greeny gold, blowing in the breeze like our fields of wheat.
So much more attractive than what it eventually produces. Injera is basically
an edible plate - spicy meats are placed on it and the injera, which has the
look of an old damp grey kitchen rag, is broken off in order to pick up the
meat. A good sociable system but I fear I never adapted to the taste and consistency.

On our first
day at Adwa it was the Festival of Abuna Garima so there was no chance of getting
over to the monastery. The monastery, however, had come to Adwa. Dozens of monks
looking splendid and imposing in robes and crowns, carrying huge crosses and
books, were in a procession through the town, gathering as they went half the
inhabitants, plus three Europeans - or faranji -Jacques, Mark and me.

We arrived
at a hill top church and watched with the large, noisy and excited crowd the
monks dancing and singing, with groups of women complementing the extraordinary
sounds with continuous ululations. We were told by locals, with pride and pleasure
that the old church had been torn down, and replaced with this one, with brand
new murals.

This was a
rich and colourful event that continued the next day. The Patriarch, or Pope,
of Ethiopia was in town. He had originally come from the Garima monastery, and
was visiting Adwa to speak to the masses, which he did at length. To the monk's
disappointment and annoyance he did not visit the monastery and the last we
saw of him was as he was driven away, throwing handfuls of tiny crosses, like
sweets, out of the window, to enthusiastic children chasing the car. As absorbing
and thrilling as it was it did mean that two days had gone by and I hadn't even
seen the monastery, let alone the manuscript.

Procession
preparation

The next day
came and still we were told it was not possible to go there. Daniel was working
hard waving the necessary documentation in front of the necessary noses and
I think it was a frustrating and dispiriting experience for him.

Finally that
Wednesday afternoon we were driven in an ancient Toyota van by the normal team
of three - one to drive, one to take the money and one to open the sliding door
- along the rocky road up into the hills to Abuna Garima. We were greeted with
a sort of nervous and wary friendliness.

After some
discussion - I say some discussion, - it was about 3 hours of talking. Mark
and I took the time to climb the slopes above the monastery and gained a terrific
view of the surrounding valley standing on the holy spot where Abba Garima spat
on the ground and created a permanent spring - the manuscript was produced and
I had my first breathtaking sighting of the beautifully bright colours of the
illuminated pages which were at the beginning of each volume, although some
were loose. I'd seen photos previously in London when I was preparing for this
work - but seeing this book in real life was truly astonishing.

It was big
- you could fell an ox with it, it was beautiful - the colours were vibrant
- and it had, as I said to Mark at the time, the look of a burst mattress. The
text pages were written in Ge-eze, the earlier language spoken in this area,
but no longer in use. They speak Tigrinya now in this region.

The monks even
at this stage were still undecided about how to proceed. The problem was that
although they are the custodians of the books, the ownership rests with His
Holiness, the Patriarch. The hierarchy of the various diocese also felt it necessary
to give their permission. This was further complicated by the fact that the
Ministry of Culture maintained that the government owned these types of artefacts
and only they could give permission. We were pawns in the political power struggle
between Church and State, as were the monks. I felt sorry for the Abbot who
kept peering at all our letters of authenticity in a manner that suggested that
he couldn't actually read.

Part
of the monastery

Eventually
we left - the monks were to have another meeting that evening, and we were to
return the next morning.

The next day,
we were allowed to start. I took out the materials I had brought and explained
with the help of Daniel that these were the finest skins of vellum and the best
papers from Japan.

The books were
brought out into the courtyard of the Treasure House which was to be my 'bindery'.
Not ideal, we had to move the benches (which consisted of an old table and two
funeral biers) twice daily to avoid the sun whilst also contending with a gentle
breeze. Other slight differences between this work space and my workshop at
home included the occasional visits of donkeys and the regular visits of monkeys.
I kept an eye on them as I was fearful that one may jump down from the roof,
grab a folio, scrunch it up and run off down the hill.

At the start
of work nearly all the monks gathered round, eyes fixed on me, Jacques started
photographing from all angles and the Abbot sat down close next to me. Of course
at this moment I wished them all elsewhere. Mark did his best to distract them.
He did this brilliantly on many occasions as the monks were constantly wanting
to sit virtually in our laps watching us work. He would engage them in conversation,
even though they knew no English and we had about five words of Tigrinya, he
taught them to ride a bike, which he had hired for a few days, he showed them
how to burn their hands with the sun and my magnifying glass, and generally
entertained them.

On this first
occasion, however, there was nothing for it but to proceed with dozens of eyes
following my every move. Having taken some initial photographs I picked up my
2B pencil to lightly collate the folios that were to be removed. I was alarmed
to have my hand stopped by the Abbot. He did not want me to add anything to
the great man's work. However, after a while he started to relax and to my amazement
and even more alarm picked up one of my scalpels and started trying to cut some
of the threads. My turn to stop his hand.

Unwanted
assistance from the Abbott

Gradually we
settled into a routine of Mark and I working as a team. There were always at
least 2 or 3 monks lingering casually as close as they could get, occasionally
trying to examine the verso of the page we happened to be on. I called them
neh nehs the name of a type of Hawaian goose - the name translates as - lets
sit around and chat.

We arranged
our makeshift benches - the funeral biers - as much as possible keeping them
back. One morning one of the biers was missing - it was in use in the nearby
village. Like the flies that continually pestered us, they had to be swotted.
I did not blame them for this close interest. They made it clear they were grateful
for the work. This work, in the most extraordinary circumstances and situation,
Mark and I undertook in the most professional and responsible manner we could.

Condition
and Treatment The
Abba Garima Gospels are three manuscripts bound into two volumes. The first
(AG1) contains the sixth century manuscript. The second volume (AG2) also contains
the sixth century manuscript which is bound together with a later manuscript,
from the 14th. Century.

AG1 is sewn
with two pairs of sewing stations with a hard 2 ply linen thread. The boards
are copper with holes that would presumably have displayed coloured glass or
jewels originally. On the inside of the back cover are the remains of a deteriorated
papyrus board. The metal boards are attached loosely by the sewing threads from
the sections, as well as from the tacketing at head and tail, being wrapped
around the hinge rod. The spine is three separate pieces of much more recent
vellum, brought round under the boards and sewn through the preliminary pages
approximately four cms. from the back fold, with parchment strips. This prevented
satisfactory opening of these pages. Further damage had been effected by vellum
guards being sewn into the pages, with parchment strips, diagonally through
the images, thus preventing proper opening, and the formation of creases where
attempts had been made to fold the vellum leaves back. With this secondary sewing,
intermingled in places with a tertiary sewing of a soft 2 ply linen thread from
some later repair, the most important and attractive folios were rendered inaccessible
and vulnerable. On one occasion the page was creased in two places and sewn
through the doubled part. All four edges of each page had damage and missing
areas through use over fourteen centuries. Insect damage was found throughout
the main text block.

Old
repairs through folded Image

AG1 - Front board
and spine

AG2
- Front board and spine

Restricted opening
from previous repair

Profiled
Taizan Paper

Reattaching Front
Board on AG1

Repaired
Sewing on AG2

AG2 is also
sewn with two pairs of sewing stations with linen thread. The wooden boards
are covered in a chased metal of a later date than AG1. The spine edges of the
wood are chamfered. There are no holes horizontally through the boards (in keeping
with later Coptic bindings) but there are many holes vertically through the
boards suggesting later additions for repair purposes.

The illuminated
and text folios in AG2 had suffered the same treatment as in AG1, and were in
a similar condition.

Of the illuminated
folios in AG1, three had to be moved to their correct place which was in AG2;
two had to be moved to their correct place within AG1 and three had to be reversed,
having been sewn in along the foredge.

Of the illuminated
folios in AG2, three were loose and needed to be reinserted, and one needed
to be moved to its correct position.

There was one
extant double folio in each volume. The vulnerable edges of the illuminated
folios were to be repaired where possible to prevent further damage.

The illuminated
pages needed to open more freely. With all the added repairs the main advantage
of Coptic binding - the ability to open the book completely flat - had disappeared.

AG1

The front board
was removed by untying threads that were wrapped around the hinge rod. The spine
vellum pieces, which were sewn into the first pages, were unthreaded where possible,
releasing them, and creating access to the spine folds. The first twelve pages
- illuminations and text - were detached and the repairs running across some
of the pages were unthreaded.

The torn and
damaged edges were repaired in small areas with laminations of Taizan 36gsm
smooth toned Japanese paper using a parchment size adhesive.

I had taken
with me a variety of Japanese papers - different weights, tones, textures, and
a selection of differing thicknesses and tones of vellum. Although I had seen
photographs of some pages it was difficult to be sure which material would be
most suitable until I actually confronted the manuscript. The Taizan was a sympathetic
match.

It would have
been inappropriate to build up the large missing areas with new vellum as the
stresses created would have transferred through to the original vellum causing
more possible damage. Also the new pieces of vellum would have been largely
unsupported by the rest of the volume and would therefore be vulnerable to damage,
again possibly transferring through to the original. The torn edges and small
vulnerable areas were consolidated with the toned Japanese paper.

Two laminations
of Taizan paper were profiled to the spine edge shape of each single folio,
edge pared and attached to the vellum page. No single folios were guarded together
to create a double folio, the validity of which I could not be certain of.

A loose vellum
guard was added around the outside of the spine folds to strengthen and support
the sewing.

The loose text
pages were repaired similarly and reassembled in their correct order. New sewing
hemp cord was connected into the existing sewing of the text block, and the
newly arranged and repaired folios were sewn in using the normal Coptic sewing
method which had been employed throughout the rest of the book.

A blank, toned
vellum flyleaf was sewn in to protect the first page from the inside of the
copper board.

The three later
vellum spine pieces were sewn into the stub of the new flyleaf enabling freer
opening, and not hindering the opening of the first few pages.

The front board
was reattached using the threads from the sewing which were wrapped and tied
around the hinge rod securely.

Before I go
on with describing the second volume work I should interrupt myself by mentioning
that we were interrupted in the second week by a visit from the Mr. Fissela
Zibola from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism looking very fierce, and telling
us in no uncertain terms that we did not have permission to be working on the
manuscript. We should stop immediately and return to Adwa with him. We proffered
a letter that Jacques had left with us. Jacques and Daniel had left us several
days before to oversee the conservation of an icon in another monastery several
hundred miles away. Mr Zibola and Jacques obviously had some history. . He wasn't
impressed and we had to leave the book - pages loose - and we were driven back.
If we could not prove we were legitimately working we were told it was prison
for us. Fortunately Jacques sorted this out and we had quite a pleasant afternoon
being treated to some sort of coffee ritual at the hotel.

Anyway to return
to the book.

AG2

The early part
of the manuscript was separated from the later part. The illuminated folios
were treated as AG1. Again there was only one extant double folio. The existing
sewing was pretty shaky so it was strengthened with new hemp cord being sewn
in, using the original sewing stations, and the newly arranged and repaired
folios were added. A new toned vellum flyleaf was sewn in for protection against
the board. The early manuscript was at the back of this volume so the front
board was detached and sewn onto the front of the early part using existing
attachment holes in the wood.

By returning
the sewing to its original structure the illuminated pages could be viewed completely
and with no real strain on the vellum. No evidence has been destroyed of what
has happened to the books over the centuries - the holes from the misguided
repairs using the parchment strips are still there, and samples of those strips
and other sewing materials have been retained. Extensive amounts of debris -
dust, leaves, insects etc. were found in the back folds of all the sections
throughout the book. These were left in situ, partly as evidence for some possible
future study and also9 because the removal would further loosen the sewing.

The pigment
of the images was not flaking, and the vellum of the illuminated folios, despite
being worn away in areas, was sound and more robust than the vellum of the text
folios. It had also aged differently by becoming darker and more greasy. It
may be that these pages were produced elsewhere, possibly in Egypt, and brought
into Ethiopia. The differing appearance may simply be due to the more constant
handling of these pages.

When the work
was completed the monks were generous in their appreciation. We had decided
to take them gifts, and noticing that they only had 2 drinking glasses for their
tea - they had plenty of large cups for their home made beer - we bought a set
of twelve. This was fortuitous as they looked on them as symbolic for the 12
Apostles. Jacques had suggested a more dramatic gift - a sheep for a feast.
We got our taxi chaps to buy one which they brought out on the last evening.
Mark presented the glasses and some other items showing great defference to
the Abbot which surprised and pleased them. A small ceremony of thanksgiving
for the work took place in the courtyard. Mark and I and all our families were
blessed. Prayers were offered, counted out by the Abbot on his finger joints
- as a Catholic will do on his rosary.

The books were
returned to the wooden chest that had previously been made to house it. I understand
it may be made more accessible to travellers - not for handling, but for viewing
- bringing in some much needed funds.

Although I
have worked on many early manuscripts this is by far the oldest and I felt privileged
to be temporarily a part of this unchanging culture of poor and dignified Coptic
monks. Repairing old books, I always feel I am touching history. With this book
it was ancient history.

Postscript

I mentioned
being suspended by a leather strap at the beginning of this article. This occurred
on a trip out (we couldn't work on Sundays) to visit Debre Damo, an important
early monastery , founded in 4th. Century by Arigawa, one of the main 9 saints,
about 100 miles from where we were. Miraculously, considering the terrain and
the condition of our vehicle, skilfully driven up and down rocky steep slopes
and through rivers by our cheerful team of chauffeurs we reached this distant
site. One of the local boys came up to me as I walked from the van and said
solemnly ' You are a very old man and I will help you'. Nonplussed, I gratefully
handed him my knapsack to carry.

The monastery
is on a plateau reached only by scaling a sheer cliff face. The arrangement
is that, being secured by the strap from the top, one climbs up the face of
the cliff utilising another rope. Mark shinned up first, making it look easy.

For the whole
three weeks that I was in the fabulous country of Ethiopia I had a nasty debilitating
chest infection which I somehow picked up just before leaving England. I did
feel at my lowest ebb that day, in the pouring rain, at the foot of the cliff.
I really wanted to see the monastery with its books and ceiling carvings so
it had to be done. I struggled up but was of little help to the monk holding
onto the strap. When, with one final effort, he hoisted me over the top edge
I looked up into his kindly grinning face to see that he must have been at least
eighty. Feeling, and I'm sure, looking foolish (Mark has a photo) I recovered
enough to enjoy this remote religious site where the monks are self sufficient,
even having their own livestock and reservoirs of water hewn into the rock .
The trip down was, as I suspected, just as vertical and I was accompanied by
many whoops of encouragement.

I would like
to thank Jacques Mercier, Daniel SeifeMikael and Mark Winstanley for all their
much needed help and support. Also thanks to Tova Irving at William Cowleys
who was extremely helpful with suggestions regarding the vellum.

Lester
at Work

Lester
Capon trained at Camberwell School of Art and Crafts from 1975 -
1977. He trained with and worked for James Brockman from 1977 - 1993. This involved
working on a wide range of books, repairing manuscripts and early printed books
and fine binding and presentation boxes. From 1993 - 2000 he was Programme Manager
for the Fine Binding and Conservation course at Guildford College. Since 2000
he has worked as a self- employed bookbinder in Tewkesbury; He was elected a
Fellow of Designer Bookbinders in1986 and was President from 2003 - 2005. Collections
include - British Library, HRHRC Texas, John Rylands University Library Manchester,
Liverpool Library, private collections in U.K. and abroad.